Photos: Guttenfelder’s iPhone Photos

Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder not only documents the war in Afghanistan with traditional digital cameras, he also used an iPhone camera, carried in his flak jacket pocket, coupled with a Polaroid film filter application to photograph the daily lives of Marines, Afghan soldiers and fellow journalists during the military offensive in Marjah, Afghanistan.

The boarding pass information is written on the hand of AP Photographer David Guttenfelder before leaving on a helicopter for a staging area near Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A book of photos of young men that U.S. Marines suspected of being Taliban members lies on the floor of a compound that the Marines searched in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A letter rests in the helmet of a U.S. Marine after he and his platoon members received mail from home while out in the field in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A urinal, built by U.S. Marines for them to use while they stay inside an Afghan farm compound, is constructed in the corner of the yard in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

Wow, that camera is done for. I can only imagine enough dust has invaded it and coated the ccd. Terrible.

André

The war is a shame!

Joe

why is the guy in pic 31 half buried in the ground???

Barry

End this war. Is it ‘making us safe’, killing people there? exactly opposite. What exactly is the goal anymore? One thing — boots on the ground are far better than faceless drones and air attacks, sure to result in blowback, more terrorism.

http://onwarandpeace.wordpress.com Donnette

Oh wow! These pictures are amazing! These people are amazing! The conditions under which they are living are brought to life by the images. Thank you so much.. Am re-posting links to pics in my blog.

Hahahah! He’s not half buried in the ground, it’s just the camera angle; I think he was either doing pushups or taking the sun…you decide!

Eagle

hold on, wait…no! i mean, abs, I ment abs…uhg…stupid mistake…

Hinata76

Nice pics…

Doug

Man, some of the comments here are truly inane, even by internet trolling standards.

Why does it matter that it’s an iPhone? Could have been any phone? As someone who shoots quite happily with anything he can get his hands on, including numerous phones, I can tell you that the iPhone does a better job, with fewer shooting compromises, than any other phone out there.

It’s really great to see a photographer putting one to such great use in a situation such as this. Definitely not your standard SLR reportage.

jac

Great pictures, crappy camera. Shouldn’t be any dust on the CCD of the first aerial shot. iPhones aren’t very good cameras, I don’t know why the title makes a difference. It’s just war and we need to get those kids home–enough.

Victor Canada

Great reminder that there is real war still going on. Dedicated soldiers hard at work for a cause. Support the troops even if you don’t agree with the ideology behind it. As ordered, they will fight for you with the same dedication.

I don’t care what camera David Guttenfelder chooses to use, but he should not be choosing to use any post processed “Polaroid film filter” effects for photojournalism work. If the original intent was for his personal use, then fine, please keep it on his personal website or in an art gallery. But these photos should not be displayed as photojournalism on the AP’s website or any other legitimate news sites such as the Denver Post.

mh

“Eric says:
March 26, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Wow, that camera is done for. I can only imagine enough dust has invaded it and coated the ccd. Terrible.”

Canon Pro cameras have CMOS not CCD chips…

Rohan

I’m trying to figure out wether Alan S is taking the piss but lets assume he is not. Are you f***ing kidding? Murdering unarmed civilians by the tens of thousands. Leaving unexploded ordinances for the next several generations of children to discover. Spending trillions of $$$ on WAR that instead should be spent on US health care. The list is too long to keep going with. The US government kills more people than any other country at the moment and you think they are keeping you safe! Time to wake up from the isolated insular dream world your mind is living in. Here’s to the journalists who allow us to see into these places in such terrible times. Rohan

bryan

Beautiful work in a tough place.

Re: why is it important it was an iPhone? – if you were any attention the pictures are square (not rectangular like the native format of the camera phone) and taken with a polaroid SX-70 style software emulator – so, can other camera phones run this software? Can you also edit the pictures on other phones like in the iphone? OK.

Stunning images! I love the iPhone as a medium. The humble iPhone reinforces the insider’s perspective. Well done!

This reminds me of an exhibit I once saw on the Middle East. A former White House photographer shot entirely with black and white disposable cameras.

This particular set of images is incredibly moving. Thank you.

matt

I agree with jac, ‘it’s just a war’and here are some images from a photographer trying to make not very interesting shots look ‘artistic’ using a cell phone camera. Is this an ad for Apple or what. He should be making war look awful and destructive so we think twice about going to foreign countries and killing people and getting ourselves killed. As a photojournalist he is doing a bad job especially when his ego allows him to shoot a self portrait and publish it.

Steve

Some astonishingly stupid comments here. Henry: It matters that it’s an iPhone because it’s using a great iPhone camera app that gives the photos a unique look. At the moment there simply aren’t any other phones out there with the quality and variety of camera apps that iPhone has. So yes, it does matter. The iPhone camera isn’t very high quality, but when used in an interesting way, as this photographer has done, it has a very unique aesthetic.

jeff

Good shots under miserable conditions. Nothing wrong with using an iphone or polaroid app to all of you ‘purists’ who think lugging lenses is the only way to go…it’s not. What’s wrong with a self pic?..historically been done many times before..get over it. Bring home our troups.

I am left with a profound sense of wonder, gratitude and sorrow. It isn’t the camera. It’s the person who sees the image that tells the story. What a great tribute. Thank you.

Carlo

you should have used the 7.0 MPX App for the iPhone. It would greatly improve picture quality. :)

Anyways, really awesome pics! Thanks for capturing all of those.

jj

great photos, unfortunate about the bloody awful resolution and image quality of pictures.

could’ve had a nice collection of photos….

Thom

Matt,
Your comment disgusts me. Guttenfelder is a photojournalist, yes, but he’s also a human. His assignment in the Middle East is a personal experience. I’m sure he is facing trials daily and overcoming them — all while documenting the horrors of war for us back in normal society. These are not his photos for the front page of the Post, they’re his photos for his memory and for his family and children.

This collection represents an excellent snapshot of life as a journalist in Afghanistan under its current climate. It was not intended to portray the war in any way, but to portray his day to day existence.

I thank Mr. Guttenfelder, the Denver Post and all the ladies and gents fighting for us (and as many have said, I hope to see them return soon).

How dare we complain about burnt toast and running out of toliet paper.Even the lack of quality of a very useful device.In an enviroment like that we have nothing to complain about,DO WE?COME HOME GUYS WAR SUCKS!

I think some of you are missing the point with these photos. It doesn’t matter if he did or did not use filters (post-processing) on these photos. What matters is that even with the shoddy iPhone camera he capture some excellent moments that give insight and perspective to the war in Afghanistan. You guys are focusing on the wrong things with this gallery.
Let’s just get these men and women home.

brujogarza

Very nice photos, of or brave,and fearless soldiers! They appear to be enjoying the photo shoot at some point? the auto focus on the 3GS would be very useful at these times. Yikes that poor Canon is really getting down,and dirty, just like what its built for, but is that the 70-200mm L f/4? Isn’t it not capable,of being weather proof,or dust resistant? Not a big deal though,according to the situation!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fauxmantic/ J.S.

Looks like he used the photo app Hipstamatic on an iPhone to shoot these images (most likely using a combination of the “Ina’s 1969 Film” and the “Helga Viking Lens” settings). A pretty bold and brave move since Hipstamatic does not save for the user an “original,” unaltered and unaffected image. Hipstamatic in it’s forced randomness, is about as close as one can get to shooting actual film in a toy/plastic/Holga type camera in this digital age. It takes some serious gumption to shoot using an app like Hipstamatic in such serious and somber situations.

Steven

Photos look great. There is a rawness from the poor cameras abilities that aesthetically reminds me of old vietnam footage and really makes these photos breathtaking.

The fact that this was done on an iPhone makes it all that more touching to me.

The Afghanistan conflict is much more of a “blue state” war, and the iPhone is a real “blue state” product. A counterpoint would be to take pictures in Iraq with a Zune.

When I think of Afghanistan, I can’t help but associate: Obama/Apple, Inc./Evolution/Climate Change; when I think of Iraq I associate: Bush/Microsoft/Creationism/Global Warming Deniers.

gazzerb

As a professional photographer all of you whining about quality appear to forget that the images are meant to be candid and personal images, using the polaroid ap has added what I think is quite a nice quality to them. I for one would not want to be doing a Roger Fenton on a battlefield these days. ( if you need to look him up you should not be complaining in the first place )

just accept them for what they are, always easy to be a critic…

hhm

I have no idea, how good the camera of the iPhone is. But those complaining about the visual quality of the pictures should go to the top of the page and read the little paragraph which contains the words “coupled with a Polaroid film filter application”.

Kudos to the photographer for the effort going there and making the pictures.

Erik

Matt wrote: “He should be making war look awful and destructive so we think twice about going to foreign countries and killing people and getting ourselves killed. As a photojournalist he is doing a bad job especially when his ego allows him to shoot a self portrait and publish it.”

Or maybe, as a journalist, he should be recording what he sees, so you and I can make our own decisions about the validity of the war.

David wrote: “I don’t care what camera David Guttenfelder chooses to use, but he should not be choosing to use any post processed “Polaroid film filter” effects for photojournalism work.”

This is an odd statement, given that even before you take a photo you are making decisions about how the “reality” of the shot is going to be represented. The camera used affects the photo. The lenses affect the photo. The aperture and shutter speed affect the photo. The polarizing or UV or other filters affect the photo. Even minor tweaking for contrast and saturation in Photoshop affect the photo. If he had taken the shot with a Polaroid camera that delivered the same results as this iPhoto + filter shot, would you have cried foul?

As a former grunt, I can say that these low-resolution shots in many ways feel more real to me than the majority of the crisp, technically perfect shots I come across. The mood is important, and these shots capture it well.

You could have twenty people witness the same car accident and they all would have a different take on what happened. Multiply that by many thousands of witnesses in a war. So, whatever pictures are taken will never reflect the consensus of everyone.

It’s a mistake to assume that a picture can communicate mood. Such a thing is relative to the feelings of the viewer.

http://www.frescova.com martin

Very cool pics! shakeit is the app I use the most on my iPhone – glad to see that someone else is using it and capturing quality images like these with it;

I’m with Erik, journalists are there to document and show us what they see so that we – critical thinking – can make our own decisions/determinations.

Also, the raw feel of the images are great – the composition and subject matter is what really defines them.

great work!

dollyvarden

Winslow Theramin, you just managed to pack so many wild free associations into an email.

Microsoft’s founder is the most generous and progressive philanthropist around. And it’s in a Blue State.

Why not add Nazis and Pure Evil and human feces to your list:

When I think of Afghanistan, I can’t help but associate: Obama/Apple, Inc./Evolution/Climate Change; when I think of Iraq I associate: Bush/Microsoft/Creationism/Global Warming Deniers.

DRS

I’m a pc guy, and I’m the most left/skeptic/atheist person you will ever meet.

Afghanistan a blue state war huh? I suppose this guy’s iPod is going to take some pictures of the little white outlines of bodies and lawyers and criminal investigators as they call “time out” during a battle to gather evidence over who shot who so that they can bring them to court here in the US.

Wow- for those of you who are complaining about this- get a life..or better yet get a press badge and go hump the ground with these Grunts in the heat/cold rain/snow and wind… if you’ve never experienced life in a forward area you don’t know. These photos accurately describe what these young men and women are going through and might I add the photojournalist.

Patrick Lucero

As a photojournalist I’d say this is a good collection of personal photographs, but not a strong photo essay if you judge his work next to the great “Life” photographer’s of old. What’s missing is a good narrative to make the viewer understand what the photographer was feeling or experiencing at the time he took each photo. Grouped together as it is makes it more of an artistic collage of images and not a cohesive story. So if Guttenfelder could write a compelling text to the great imagery he took then he’d have something substantial.

Guttenfelder, has once more proven the best tool a photojournalist has is his or her brain. High-end cameras are a tool like any other type of tools. We photographers always carry the best lens in the world with us at all times: “the human eye.” Great work!

FairDealDaveNH

Thanks for these pictures. These are our BRAVE sons and daughters doing their jobs as they were trained to do them. Their families at home struggle to live their lives without their companionship and love. I don’t get the political comments? There are plenty of other venues for the politics. How about some God Bless each and every one of them comments in this Easter season.

It’s the worst thing I have seen in a while. Taking pictures of people’s suffering with your iPhone and then running them through some filter app to give them a “nostalgic” feel (why? this is happening NOW). If you want, use your iPhone to take pictures, use a Polaroid or a Pinhole made out of a can, a Hasselblad or a Nikon. But stick to the esthetic of your medium and its limitations, don’t trick people with some 99ct. filter hocus pocus. It’s not a question of snobbishness, it’s an ethical question. It’s about sincerity and how sincerity is replaced by cheap effects everywhere. If this is a trend then this is bad, really bad.

Thank you David for your courageous effort and great photography.
Please keep it up so more can see, what you are seeing.
Never mind the noise on this end….we all know, being hypercritical while
sitting on ones rear is so much easier.
Be careful. No photo is worth injuring yourself.

You know, I see a lot of whining about “using a filter” and its use to “trick people” and that he’s not sincere in his work…

Seriously?

He has his gear for the “real-deal” pictures. Hell, he took a picture of them! I know that as a photographer, some times its good to stray from the norm and use to keep a little creative juice flowing. Not saying that he can’t do that with his gear he has, but seriously…I can’t believe the whining and bitching and moaning I’m seeing. First things first…I’d like to see any one of you go over there and be a photojournalist…I guarantee not 10% of you would have the stones to work in an environment like that.

Everyone is a critic. Its so easy to pick something apart and speak negatively about others. Well lets see your work. Until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes, then you really have no room to talk.

I think these photo’s are a glimpse into the day to day of his life…the things he see’s…the experiences he has outside of doccumenting a war. A sense of humility in a world of chaos…

My opinion is that the images aras awful as I expected;
the only reason there well known is because hes a well known war photographer,its War and its mainly as its on ‘i-phone’
wooo eeeee?!?……
apart from giving Simon money for advertiseing apples i-phone the rst is pointless

KGE

I meant ‘David’ not that famous then!

Kevin M

@ KGE. I don’t see it as an direct and blatant advertisement for Apple. Images taken with an Apple mobile phone/iPhone app are considered “iPhone” photos, just like pictures taken with an instant camera using instant Polaroid film is considered “Polaroids.”
And, while you’re entitled to hold your opinion (that these images are “awful,”), I think the grain, the saturation and contrast of these iPhone apps processed photos adds grittiness appropriate to the subject and narrative.